The gripping memoirs of a cavalry officer of the First Empire
This is the story of a remarkable French cavalryman of the Napoleonic era, Denis Charles Parquin, an officer of the Chasseurs a Cheval. Memoirs of soldiers of Napoleon's army are always exciting, but few exist in English translation. Those that have been translated such as the recollections of Coignet, Barres, Bourgogne and Marbot have become famous and provide a valuable resource of first hand information. Parquin joined the 20th regiment of the horse chasseurs in 1806 and served with it until 1813 rising in rank to lieutenant. He fought at Saalfeld, Jena, Eylau, Wagram, in the Iberian Peninsula at Ciudad Rodrigo and at Salamanca, gathering wounds as well as regimental promotions. In 1813, Parquin agreed to take a reduction in rank to join the elite Chasseurs a Cheval of the Imperial Guard, where he became the emperor's escort on the march and in the field. Napoleon personally awarded Parquin the cross of the Legion of Honour during a review in the same year. In the final battles of the First Empire Parquin fought at Leipzig, Hanau-where he was wounded-and during the battle for France in 1814, that led to the emperor's abdication and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. There is some evidence that Parquin took part in the Battle of Waterloo-probably as a cuirassier. He remained in the cavalry under the royalist regime, but was eventually ruined by his involvement in Bonapartist conspiracies. This book concentrates on his life at its most exciting as he served as a 'beau sabreur' in the service of his beloved emperor. Included here are numerous illustrations (taken from the edition of these memoirs published as 'Napoleon's Victories') that illuminate the narrative and add to the book's reading enjoyment and value as a reference source and collectors' edition.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The young daughter of an English-born U. S. infantry officer on the post-Civil War frontier, Mary Leefe Laurence had the childhood of an army nomad, accompanying the regiment from south Texas to the Canadian border. In faithfully recording her travels, she offers extensive and unique insight into life as a child and adolescent in the twilight of the Indian-fighting army. Thomas T. Smith is a regular army lieutenant colonel of infantry assigned to Fort Bliss, Texas. He is the editor of A Dose of Frontier Soldiering (Nebraska 1996).

As a young man Winston Churchill set out to become a hero, to make a name for himself in the public eye as a soldier and so make possible a life of politics and statesmanship. There were many chances to fail and many close calls in the face of sword, spear and bullet along the way. Yet Churchill survived and succeeded - an early measure of his courage and stubborn will that the world would come to know so well in the Second World War. This is the first full-length, fully-researched biography of Churchill's colourful military career. Using an unrivalled range of sources, and with previously unpublished photographs, and detailed maps by Sir Martin Gilbert, it brings vividly to life Churchill's motives, abilities, experiences, successes and failures, and his unswerving sense of destiny as an officer in the British Army. The result is a story to echo the man himself - rich in action, courage, charismatic self-belief, patriotism and humour. Making extensive use of the contemporary accounts of Churchill and his fellow soldiers and archival documents from three continents, illustrated with many maps and previously unpublished photographs, Douglas S.
Russell vividly brings to life the military career of the vigorous young officer of hussars who later became the greatest Briton of the twentieth century. From Sandhurst to the mountainous North-West Frontier of India, to the charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman, from the South African veldt to the deadly trench warfare of the Great War, the author - whom Sir Martin Gilbert calls 'a keen portraitist' - tells the gripping story of Churchill's army life with careful attention to historical detail and all the drama that the real life adventures of his subject deserve. (Hardback ISBN: 185753564X)

A small British army is stranded when the French invade northern Portugal and Lieutenant Richard Sharpe meets the future Duke of Wellington. Sharpe is stranded behind enemy lines, but he has Patrick Harper, his riflemen and he has the assistance of a young, idealistic Portuguese officer. When he is joined by the future Duke of Wellington they immediately mount a counter-attack and Sharpe, having been the hunted, becomes the hunter once more. Amidst the wreckage of a defeated army, in the storm lashed hills of the Portuguese frontier, Sharpe takes his revenge. Soldier, hero, rogue - Sharpe is the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles whose green jacket he proudly wears.

Hal Moore, one of the most admired American combat leaders of the last 50 years, has until now been best known to the public for being portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie "We Were Soldiers." In this first-ever, fully illustrated biography, we finally learn the full story of one of America's true military heroes.A 1945 graduate of West Point, Moore's first combats occurred during the Korean War, where he fought in the battles of Old Baldy, T-Bone, and Pork Chop Hill. At the beginning of the Vietnam War, Moore commanded the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry in the first full-fledged battle between U.S. and North Vietnamese regulars. Drastically outnumbered and nearly overrun, Moore led from the front, and though losing 79 soldiers, accounted for 1,200 of the enemy before the Communists withdrew. This Battle of Ia Drang pioneered the use of "air mobile infantry"-delivering troops into battle via helicopter-which became the staple of U.S. operations for the remainder of the war. He later wrote of his experiences in the best-selling book, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young.Following his tour in Vietnam, he assumed command of the 7th Infantry Division, forward-stationed in South Korea, and in 1971, he took command of the Army Training Center at Fort Ord, California.
In this capacity, he oversaw the US Army's transition from a conscript-based to an all-volunteer force. He retired as a Lieutenant General in 1977.At this writing, Hal Moore is 90 years old and living quietly in Auburn, Alabama. He graciously allowed the author interviews and granted full access to his files and collection of letters, documents, and never-before-published photographs. Mike Guardia, currently an officer in the U.S. 1st Armored Division is also author of two highly acclaimed biographies, American Guerrilla, about the life of the true founder of Special Forces, Russell Volckmann, and Shadow Commander, about the career of Donald Blackburm.

A keepsake collection of Lord John Grey's shorter adventures and a spectacular addition to any Gabaldon fan's library, "Lord John and the Hand of the Devils" brings these three unique novellas together for the first time. Lord John and the Hellfire Club marks the first appearance of Lord John outside the "Outlander" novels (and chronologically precedes the novel "Lord John and the Private Matter"). A young diplomat is killed in the street as he begs Lord John for help. Witnessing the murder, Grey vows to avenge the young man, as the trail leads to the notorious Hellfire Club and the dark caves beneath Medmenham Abbey.In "Lord John and the Succubus", Grey's assignment as liaison to a Hanoverian regiment in Germany finds him caught between two threats: the advancing French and Austrian army, and the menace of a mysterious 'night-hag,' who spreads fear and death among the troops. Acknowledging that he is unlikely to fall victim to a succubus, Lord John is obliged to contend with the marauding night-hag before the enemy arrives. This tale with a touch of the supernatural bridges the action between Gabaldon's two full-length Lord John tales.
Finally, in "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier", Lord John is called to the Arsenal at Woolwich to answer a Royal Commission of Enquiry's questions regarding a cannon that exploded during the battle of Krefeld (a central action in Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade). Accusations ensue, and Lord John finds himself knee-deep in a morass of gunpowder, treason, and plot - haunted by a dead lieutenant, and followed by a man with no face.

A brilliant new translation of a perennial favorite of Russian Literature The first major Russian novel, A Hero of Our Time was both lauded and reviled upon publication. Its dissipated hero, twenty-five-year-old Pechorin, is a beautiful and magnetic but nihilistic young army officer, bored by life and indifferent to his many sexual conquests. Chronicling his unforgettable adventures in the Caucasus involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals, and lovers, this classic tale of alienation influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov in Lermontov's own century, and finds its modern-day counterparts in Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, the novels of Chuck Palahniuk, and the films and plays of Neil LaBute.

'After all that - how, you might wonder, could one not become a fatalist?' Lermontov's hero, Pechorin, is a young army officer posted to the Caucasus, where his adventures - amorous and reckless - do nothing to alleviate his boredom and cynicism. World-weary and self-destructive, Pechorin is alienated from those around him yet he is full of passion and romantic ardour, sensitive as well as arrogant. His complex, contradictory character dominates A Hero of Our Time, the first great Russian novel, in which the intricate narrative unfolds episodically, transporting the reader from the breathtaking terrain of the Caucasus to the genteel surroundings of spa resorts. Told in an engaging yet pointedly ironic style, the story expresses Lermontov's own estrangement from the stifling conventions of bourgeois society and the oppression of Russian autocracy, but it also captures a longing for freedom through acts of love and bravery. This new edition also includes Pushkin's Journey to Arzrum, in which Pushkin describes his own experiences of Russia's military campaigns in the Caucasus and which provides a fascinating counterpoint to Lermontov's novel.
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Santiago, Chile, at the height of Pinochet's reign of terror in the late twentieth century. Julieta, the Juliet of this 'Romeo and Juliet' story and the daughter of a senior government official, is to be married to the army officer of her father's choice. She attempts to escape with the boy she loves to the Peruvian Andes, but her father's tentacles reach across South America and even as far as England. The young lovers are caught up in a series of gripping adventures and narrow escapes. They are helped by a courageous priest, whose mission is to save opponents of Pinochet from the prisons, torture chambers and executions of the military regime. The Snake and the Condor is more than a retelling of one of the great love stories of world literature. It also studies the cruel effects of colonization, forced conversion and economic exploitation on non-European civilizations. It evokes the fear, suspicion and uncertainty on which tyranny and dictatorship thrive.